…and if you know me you know that I typically could care less. Most of this is due to the fact that I used to not see a lot of movies; some of it is due to the fact that I loathed those movies that would get nominated.

But this year, two things are different. First, since moving to Los Angeles we get to see a lot of free movies (especially Academy Award contenders). And second, 2009 was the first year in a long time that produced a good number of films that I consider to be Oscar-worthy.

So since this is the first year since 1995 (I was rooting for “Pulp Fiction” back then) that I’ve actually given a shit about the Oscars, I’ve decided to add my two cents to the insanity.

The full nominee list is below.

The people/films I want to win are in red.

The people/films I expect to win are in green.

And if I both want and expect them to win, those people/films are in black.

Also, I’ve only listed the categories I can comment on or care about. If I haven’t seen any of the films from a certain list, or if it’s a category I’m not interested in (sorry, Best Original Song) the list was omitted.

NOMINEES FOR THE 82ND ACADEMY AWARDS:

Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”

George Clooney in “Up in the Air”

Colin Firth in “A Single Man”

Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”

Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role

Matt Damon in “Invictus”

Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”

Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”

Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”

Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role

Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”

Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”

Carey Mulligan in “An Education”

Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role

Penélope Cruz in “Nine”

Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”

Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”

Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”

Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film

“Coraline” Henry Selick

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson

“The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements

“The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore

“Up” Pete Docter

Cinematography

“Avatar” Mauro Fiore

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel

“The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd

“Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson

“The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Directing

“Avatar” James Cameron

“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow

“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels

“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Film Editing

“Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron

“District 9” Julian Clarke

“The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

“Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film

“Ajami” Israel

“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina

“The Milk of Sorrow” Peru

“Un Prophète” France

“The White Ribbon” Germany

Music (Original Score)

“Avatar” James Horner

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat

“The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders

“Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer

“Up” Michael Giacchino

Best Picture

“Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers

“The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined

“District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers

“An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers

“The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined

“Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers

1. It’s well thought out, wonderfully written, and fully realized conceptually, so it figures it would get the total shaft from the Golden Globes. When your “best of” list includes “The Reader” and not this movie, the validity of your picks goes completely out the window.

2. After years of being a character actor, Richard Jenkins outshines nearly every performance of any other actor being considered for an award this year. And the man appears to be able to do everything, from dark comedy (“Six Feet Under” and “Burn After Reading”) to slapstick fart humor (“Step Brothers”) to more subtle dramatic works like this. Hopefully the Oscar nominations will acknowledge Jenkins and right the wrong the Golden Globes created.

3. “The Visitor” is writer/director Thomas McCarthy’s second film! As if I weren’t already jealous of his talents, he’s also an actor on “The Wire,” and will be playing Principal Caden in Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones. I hate people who are good at more than one thing! Leave something for the rest of us sad bastards!

4. The film pushes Fela Kuti. You should want to see it for that fact alone.

5. If you read this blog regularly you know my clear choice for “Best Picture” of 2008 is “Wall-E.” But that movie aside, “The Visitor” is definitely high on my list. I’d say it’s just as good as “Slumdog Millionaire” and slightly better than “The Wrestler.” It’s out on DVD now, so rent it.

RATING: Countless dialogues on race relations, immigration, and what’s truly important in life